Finally the iDevice receives a game close the classic F-Zero. Race at intense speeds with hover cars in space for victory.

Defeat your rivals by doing insane drifting, racing at speeds of over 600 mph, and then watch it all again on replay.

Gameplay

Orion Racer features four hover cars, ten tracks, a tournament mode, single race mode, Bluetooth multiplayer, and a time trial mode. In tournament mode you complete a series of 10 races. At the end of each race you are awarded points based on your position. After the final race the racer with the highest score wins and gets a trophy. Winning the tournament grants you access to the tenth track and the fourth vehicle. Single race of course is a single race for pick-up and play sessions. Each race lasts around one to three minutes depending on the track selected. Time trial is simply competing for the fastest lap on a given track. After achieving your desired time, upload your time to online leaderboards. Here you can see how you compare to the other racers out there, and even see how they did it by downloading their replay. Nice!

The game uses simplistic but very effective controls. Tilt your device to steer, and hold the bottom right to accelerate. The tilting sensitivity and the side of the accelerate or brake button can be tweaked. Also another adjustable option, the opponent AI difficulty; in the options menu there is a slider for finding the perfect difficulty to match your level.

Graphics

The graphics in this game are simplistic, but in a good way. They are very sleek and appear well done. The hover cars look a little generic, but it doesn't take away from the experience.

With the lack of intricate and complex graphics, there is more power to focus on speed of the game. The game runs at a smooth, constant rate and there are absolutely no slow downs; this game was built for speed.

Sound

The music varies from driving rock to lite techno. It sounds great, but there is an obvious gap when the track loops a majority of the time.

There seems to be only one sound effect: the engine of your car. The sound of your engine can get annoying quickly, but sound effects can be disabled in the options.

Conclusion

While it does seem a little light on content, Orion Racer is still a great game. It is very fast paced and probably more for the "hardcore" audience due to the difficulty in making turns. If you're looking for a pick-up and play high-speed racer, or just an F-Zero fan, then this game is for you.

Ratings (scale of 1 to 5):

Graphics: 5 While simplistic, they still look great.Sound: 3 The music is ok, but the sound effects are lacking.Controls: 4 Controls work well, but turning is quite a chore later on. Gameplay: 4 Feels like it might need more to it.

Playing Hints and Tips:

? The default difficulty is perfect for beginners; try that before doing any adjustments.? Turning is probably the most difficult part of this game; turn early and sharp while letting off the acceleration, then hit the acceleration when facing away from the turn.? Try using rivals as a shield on turns to avoid losing speed.